The company, which has an invoice-discounting operation in Birmingham and whose consumer arm largely lends to low-income earners, said demand for its core direct repayment product was running ahead of the same period last year despite the consumer slowdown.

"We remain cautious in the selection of our customers, and we retain strong control over credit quality and operational efficiencies," the company said in a statement. "Our customers' arrears levels and bad debts remain stable."

Lenders are starting to feel the effects of a consumer slowdown as households rein in their spending to deal with higher bills and higher borrowing costs.

Cattles, however, has held up better than rivals such as London Scottish Bank, which has been forced to close branches and overhaul management.

Unlike the big market players Cattles does not have any credit card operations and concentrates instead on longer-term loans repaid by direct debit.